Six Yellow Medicine East athletes will get their first taste of the Minnesota Class A State Track and Field meet held this Friday and Saturday at Hamline University in St. Paul.

The YME boys 4x800m relay team earned their state bid with a second place finish behind Redwood Valley and a state qualifying time of 8:38.96. The team is composed of three sophomores in Coltyn Schuler, Isaac Rillo and Jacob Carroll and senior Adam Savariego. They’ll head into state with the slowest Section time in the 17 team field. Medilia/Truman sports the fastest qualifying time in the field with an 8:07.09.

The YME 4x800m team is expected to run at 3:55 p.m. Saturday.

The first athlete, however, to hit the Hamline track will be sophomore sprinter Jacob Pederson. Pederson will run in the 200m prelims Friday night at about 6:00 p.m.

Pederson placed second in the 200m on Thursday; running just behind Murray County Centrals Jake Thony. Thony would clock a 23.23 second time, while Pederson would finish just seven-tenths behind with a 23.30.

Pederson’s Section time is the fourteenth best in a 20 person field.

Top 2 individuals and first place relay teams qualify for the state meet June 8-9 at Hamline University